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UK is top nation in list of world’s best young universities

Times Higher Education (THE) has published the Young University Rankings that lists the world’s 200 best universities that are 50 years old or younger, across 48 countries.

The ranking, which includes 200 institutions for the first time (up from 150 last year), is topped by Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, for the third year in a row. Universities in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy also feature in the top 10 while there is strong representation from Australia, France and Spain across the ranking.

Within the UK, University of Dundee ranks the highest, remaining at number 16 for another year. This is followed by University of Stirling at number 46, Plymouth University at number 65 and University of Portsmouth at number 98.

These younger universities offer a very different perspective on global higher education excellence from the World University Rankings, which are dominated by institutions from the US and UK.

The remainder of the top six in this ranking features the same institutions as last year, albeit in a slightly different order: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Nanyang Technological University swap places from last year to claim second and third place respectively, while Pohang University of Science and Technology comes fourth, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is placed fifth, and Maastricht University sixth.

The UK is the most represented nation in the ranking with 27 universities, closely followed by Australia with 23. France, Spain, Germany and Italy come next with 16, 15, 11 and 10 institutions respectively.